Band-saw mill



(No Model.)

DE WITT O. PRESCOTT. BAND SAW MILL.

No. 416,012. Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

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(No Model.) I 1 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 DE WITT G.'PRESOOTT.

BAND SAW MILL.

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w I I I I l 1 I 1 1 W2 6 (No Model.) -a Sheets-Sheet 3.

- DE WIT-T O. PRESCOTT.

BAND SAW MILL.

EyX.

Patented Nov. 26, 1889.

I a a eases UNITED {STATES PATENT OF I BAND-SAW MILLQVV.

srscinca'rmnrmmn part of Letters Patent No; 416,012, dated m as 26. 1889.

' Application filed July 16, 1889. Serial No. 317.72% (Ndmodelfl Q I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DE \VITT PRESCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residingat li-lar; inette, in the county of Marinette and State of \Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Band \Taw Mills,

whilrh are fully'set forth in the following Fig. 6, a detail'vertical section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7,a detail side elevation of one of the supporting-levers at its inner end, and Fig. 8 a bottom plan of the same'i In the drawings all the figures are upon the same scale except Fig. 1, which. is on a smaller scale than the others.

My invention relates to band-saw mills for general use in sawing logs; and it consists, mainly, in certain improvements in the con,-

struction and'arrangement of the mechanismfor supporting the upper band-wheel, whereby the mill is especially adapted for work upon very large logs.

It also consists in certain improvements in special features of construction, which will be hereinafter pointed out.

I will describe in detail the construction of 'so much of the mill as is necessary to an understanding of my present invention and the operation of the devices by which I hav'e carried out my invention practically and successfully in one way, and will then point out more definitely in claims the particular im provements which I believe to be new and wish to secure by Letters Patent.

In the drawings, A represents the base, upon which is mounted a hollow column B, which constitutes the upright portionoi the main frame. This column consists of two parts, a lower section b, which is fastened permanently to the base, and is therefore stationary, and

an upper section bf, which is telescopoil upon I the upper end of thestationarypart, so as to be movablevertieally thereon. The upper end of the movable section I" is open, as well as the upper end of the stationary section, so that ready access may be had to the interior of the upper end of the column. A bracket a'is seen red to the'stationary part of the column, and is bent downward by the side thereof to-make a hanger for one end of the shaft 0 of the lower band- Wheel C, the other end beingsupported in a suitable hanger (1'', attached to the base A. The upper or movablc section of the column is supportedby a strong short post I), which is threaded and enters a suitably-threadedsocket or not 1'?- in the upper portion of the bracket a. 'The upper end of'this post is journaled in a cross-piece d or any suitable projection outhe lower end of themovable section I), and may be turned by a hand-lever d for the purpose of adjusting' ithe movable part of the column in a vertical, direction]; this post operatin as a sortofjack-scremfor this purpose. -,It will :be noticed that in the drawings thissupportiug device is located in front of the column, and this arrmigeiiient is desirable, because the upper band-wheel is also located'on thesameside of the column, so that on this side isthegreater weight, and the location of the support here will be near] y at the cent cr of gravity of theentireweight on the movable part of the column.

A bracket E is'attaehedl .to the lower end of the movable column-section b and projects out-ward horizontally thcreI-rom a shortdis 'tance, and then turns npwar'd'at a right angle, being projected upward as high as the upper end of the column-section to which it is attached. This bracket is hollow and open at each end, and at its lower end, where it is attached to the column, a slot I) is out in the movable sectiongb', and a similar slot U in the stationary 'column-seotioirh, the latter slot, however, being. much longer than the former, with which it registers. These slots provide an opening from the bracket into the interior of the column, and at the elbow of. the bracket a slote is out, being arranged about opposite to the opening into the column;

A sleeve-bracket F is attached to the upper inside of'its'pivot.

directly opposite to eacholhcr, so that they stand at oppositecmls of a diameter of the column. They are rather arranged diagonally, both being upon one side of the diameter of the column parallel to the upper bandwhcelshaft. This arrangement will be understood from Figs. 2 and 4: of the drawings. At the lower end. of the column-section b and immediately below the sleeve F are two horizontal lugsf, which are attached to the section. A slotf is cut in the section b between these lugs, and a similar-slot f in the stationary section I), the latter slot being, longer than the former, with which it registers, thus providing. an opening between the said lugs into the interior of the column. The upper band-wheel G is secured to a shaft 7, which is mounted in front and rear boxes q. These boxes are on supports or bearing-blocks II and ll, the former at the front and the latter at or toward the rear of the column The front block ll terminates below in a stem 71, which is adapted to lit the upper open end of the bracket E and to slide up and down therein. Therear block ll also terminates in a similar stem 71 which is adapted to fit the sleeve-l'iracket F and move vertically therein.

A lever I pivoted at one end to the lugs at the elbow of the bracket 1C and extends inward horizontally through the horizontal arm of this bracket and the slots in the-two sections of the column into the interior of the latter. A similarlever J is pivoted at its outer end to the lugsf on the side of the column just below thesleeve F and extends inward horizontally through the slots in the column between these lugs into the interior of the latter. In the interior of the column the inner ends of these levers are connected to,the lower end of a vertical rod or pitman K inside of the column, the upper end of which is connected to the short arm of a lever L, and this lever is pivoted to brackets I on the inside of the upper end of the movale section of the column. These lugs are arranged at one side of the column and next to the band-wheel, and thelever L extends across the column nearly to the other side thereof.

A supporting post or red M is attached at its upper end to the stem of the front bear ing-bloek by a screw-thremled connection, so that it may be adjusted vertically. The

lower end .of this post'rests upon the lever l' a little in front or inside of its pivot. A similar post or red N is attached by a screwthreaded eonnectiim to the stem of the rear hea ing-block. and at its lower end is pivoted to the lever ,l a little way in front or This post- N may be divided for convenience and provided witha nut-amt-ran-liet dawn-e O, by which the uponly within certain limits.

per section may be turned for the purpose of adjusting thefleng'th of the rod, as in my Patent No. 309,881.

The general idea of supporting the shaft of the upper band-wheel is the same in this case as in my 1 i-ior.pateut, No. 369,881, of September 13,1887, and it is evident that the vibration of the lever L will cause a vibration of the lever s I and J, and consequently a simultaneous vertical adjustment of the bearing-blocks of the said shaft, the same as in said patent. The desired strain is put upon the levcrL, also, in the same way as in said patent, by means of weights applied to the lower end of a rod P, which is pivoted to the long armof the said lever and depends therefrom within the column nearly to the bottom thereof, and the operation of this mechanism is of the same general nature as the supporting and automatic adjusting mechanism of the aforesaid patent' In the patent, however, the horizontalsupport-ingrlevers are arranged in line with each other diametrically across the column. In the present case, with the diagonal or angular arrangement of these two levers, the'shaft of the upper'band-wheel is thrown very considerably to one side of the diametrical line on which it stands in the above-mention ed patent,

and,in fact, it may even be thrown somewhat outside of the circumference of the column. This will be readily understood from an in spection of Fig. 4 of the drawings. l'nder the arrangement of the patent the upper saw and the outside of the column nearest to the cuttinc-plane of the saw. If, then, the

upper band-wheel shaft be set out toward this euttingplane, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, it is evident that thespace referred to is increased by the entire distance between the lines .1} at and y 'y' without enlargement of the band-wheels", which of course is practical The mill is then adapted for work upon much larger logs than under the arrangement in the patent mentioned above. i

It will be understood that the horizontal supporting-levers must be practically of the samelength, so that the vertical movement of the connecting-rod K will produce substantially thesame adjustment of the front and rear support for the shaft, and thereby keep the latter substantially level. This determines the relative position ofthe-brackets. The sleeve-bracket should be set farjenough It will be understood,.

TTO

. ranged in the plane of a secanttoihe column, and of course the lever J lies in/the same plane. This particular arrangement,

In the drawings itwillbe seen from Fig however, is not a necessity, as the arrange.

ment is to be determined in each case by the amount of overhang desired for the shaft and the convenience of construct ion and arrangement in building the mill. In order to render this supporting mechanism for the upper band wheel exceedingly sensitive, all the joints thereof,where possihle,are constructed with knife-edge bearings. This will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 2 of the drawings, wherein itwill be seen that the post M hasa knife-edge bearing 777 on the lever I and that this. lever is mounted en a knife-ed'gepivot 1'; also, that the post N has a knife-edge hear ing by reason of its pivot '22, which connects it to the lever J, being provided with a knifeedge, while the said lever J, ishuugupon a knife-edge pivot; also. the lever T1 at the upper end of thepolumn is hung upon a knifeedge pivot Z, while. the weigherod P is hung upon a knife-edge pivot 19 at the end of said lever. The bearing of thecoimccting rod K on the short arm of the lever L may. also be a similar-knife-edge pivot,"or' a similar result may be obtained by a bearing somewhat differently constructed, as will-presentlybe de: scribed. These knife-edge bearings thus far mentioned I shall not describe more minutely here, as they constitute the subjectpattern of a prior application filed by me February 16, 1888, Serial l\'o2 6l,229;. In the arrange.- ment of the horizontal supporting-levers shown in my prior patent heretofore men tioned it is obvious, howeveigthat knifeedge bearings are inapplicable to the oonnec tion-s'between" the inner ends of said levers and the lower end of the connecting-rod. This is also true under the diagonalfarrangement of saidlevers shown in the present case.

Heretotlore I have been unable, therefore, to make these connections delicate and sensitive, and hence have not been able to-seeure" the f ullest degree of sensit'iveness in the mechanism. I have devised a bearing for these connections which effects this desired result, however, which I will now explain.

It is evident that with the diagonal or angular arrangement of the levers I and J herein shown and described itis a diflicult matter to arrange the connections of the two levers with the lower end of the rod in the same horizontal plane, I have therefore arranged them one above the other, and to accommodate this construction theouter-pivots of'the said levers, are correspondingly located. To provide for this connection the lower end. of the rod K is enlarged, considerably to make a kind of rectangular head, and in this head are out two slotsorrecesseskand k, thelattcrjust over the former, and running in a direction which will adapt them to receive,

respectively, the innerends of .the levers I.

Atthe bottom of each of these slots and J. orrrecesses is inserted a bearing-platefi, 1n

the surface of which is made ,a concave depression These bearing-plates should be very hard to standwear.=- The inner ends of the levers I and J are also provided with;

similar bearingplat-es t" and these plates being arranged on the underside of the levers.

and providedwith' corresponding 00mm...

ties itandj The ends ofthe leversareentered in. the recesse'sabove the bearing-plates in the latter, and between eaehfpairofi con-' cave bearing-plates is a small ball Q, of very hard metal-j The concavities in theplat es aresomewhat larger'th'an the balls,. so that while a sensitive jointis thus obtained there is -also provision for the change in the relation of the lever-connections produced bythe raising and lowering of the inner ends of, the I levers. 3 I H As alreadystated, the joint between the upper end of the connecting-rod K and'the lever L maybe a knife-edgejpivot Iprefer, however, to make theconnection at this point the same as that just described forthelower end of this same rod, and for this purpose the end of the lever L is 'providcdwith a con I cave bearing-plate Z similar to those in the.

levers below, but arranged on the upper side of this lever L. Abearing-plate is, sim lar to those in the slots below, is inserted in the j upper face of a slot o'rrecess provided in theupper end of the rod, and asi'milar ball Q is placed between these'two bearing-plates andheld in the concavities therein, as already described, and as-shownin'Figot the draw- 1 the rod uponthc' lever I as the latter-is vi brated, and makes, I think, apreterableqoint to that of a simple knife-edge p1vot. --I thus crease the sensitiveness of I this incchanisnr' This provides for some moveinent'of and make it, I believe, as. nearly perfect in 1 this direction as is possible. In actual usel have found that this mechanism responds 1n.- stantly to even slight variations inthe work,

thrown upon the saw, so that all strains are, taken up so quickly as to prevent any damage toeitherthe lumber or the saw, and I am therefore able to use saws of theleast possiblethicb ness' consistent Withthe cutting work to be,

done and to run them at avery high rateof' speed. I have also devised meansfor. readily adjusting the upper guideffor the This I accomplish in the followingfinannerz" A suitable supporting-arm ormovablebracket R is provided, to which theupper guide r is attached. This support is mounte'din a suitable guideway r', running up and down the movable section b of the column. The guidebevel-pinion f.

'ver \V, which is connected by a rod uto a support is therefore free to move vertically, l and is supported by a chain S, which runs l over a suitable pulley s at the top of the coll nmn, and is provided at its other end with a I suitable counter-Weight 8" inside of the column. I An upright .shaft T is mounted in a 5 suitable bearing near the bottom of the column, and is provided at its lower end with a I This shaft is threaded the greaterportion of its length and passes through i the bracket It, the opening in the latter being. f

also threaded to receive this screw-shaft. Obviously the rotation of this shaft will raise or lower the bracket R and the guide mounted i thereon according to the direction of the rotation. In order to give this rotation to the said T screw-shaft, a short counter-shaft U is mop nted f in suitable bearings at the base of the colunm just below the lowerend of the screw- 2 shaft, and is provided with two bevel-pinions (1, arranged one on each side of the corresponding pinion t and at such a distancefrom each other that but one can be engaged with the said piniontat the same time. 7 The shaft U is mounted in its bearings so as to be movable lengthwise therein for the purpose J of engaging either of its pinions with the pinion 1, as may be desired. The shaftU is also provided with a band-pulley u by means of which it is rotated from the shaft V of the lower band-wheel, a pulley 1' being provided on said shaft for eifecting this rotation by means of a suitable band. The counter-shat t is slid back and forth by means of a hand-leyoke-lever"u. ',which is connected to the shaft, soas to move the latter as it is vibrated in a well-known way. The attendant by means of this lever can throw either one of the pinions to into engagement with the pinion on the uprightserew-shaft, and thereby raise or lower the upper guide. The space between these pinions on the counter-shaft must of course he so great that when the pinion on the screwshaft is about midway between them itwill be engaged by neither, and consequently the guide will remain at rest; but whenever it is desired to raise or lower the guide by moving the hand-lever mentioned it will be effected mechanically and quickly.

In many details of construction this mill may be modified without departing from the characteristic features of my invention'which have been set forth above, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to these special details of construction, but intend to vary them myself in adapting the improveinents'to mills of various sizes intended for different kinds of work.

Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isl 1. In a band-saw mill. a main upright support, in combination with the upper band wheel shaft, a vertically-movable support for each end of the said shaft, and a pair of horizontal levers on which said shaft-supports are respectively mounted and which are arranged at an angle to each other, whereby the I said wheel-shaft is caused to overhang the said main support, substantially as and for 1 the purposes specified.

2. In a band-saw mill, the upright column B, in combination with the upper band-wheel shaft 9, the spindle-supports II II, the horizon tal levers I and J, arranged at an angle to each other, and a counterbalance connected to the inner ends of said levers, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In band-saw mills, a supporting hollow.

sectional column B, the upper section b of which slides upon the lower section b, in combination with the upper band-wheel G, the spindle-supports H II at the respective ends of said band-wheel shaft, the horizontal levers I J, arranged atan angle to each other i and pivoted to supports on the movable column-section and extending inward into the interior of the latter, the connecting-rod K, the lever L, and the weighted rod P, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. In a band-saw mill; the horizontal le-vers on which the supports of the upper band wheel shaft are mounted, in combination with a movable suspending-rod to which said levers are connected at their inner ends by loose ball-joints, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. The horizontal-levers I J, on which the supports of the upper band-wheel shaft are mounted, provided at their inner ends with concave bearing-surfaces on their under sides, in combination with the connecting and suspending rod K, provided with slot-s or recesses for the reception of the inner ends of said levers, having concave bearings at the bottom thereof, the balls Q, arranged ire-- tween the respective pairs of concave bearings, and the weighted lever I to which the rod K is connected atits upper end, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

6. In aband-saw mill, the upper band-wheel shaft, in combinationwith the movable spindle-supports on which it is mounted, the horizontal levers having knife edge bearings, a connecting-rod K,,in which the inner ends of said levers are supported by loose ball-bearings, and a weighted counter-balance connected to the upper end of said rod, all the joints of which are knife-edge or loose ball bearings, substantially as-and for the purposes specified.

, DE W'ITT O. PRESCOTT.

Witnesses:

CARRIE FEIGEL, A. M. BEST; 

